Southern Highlands sit-skier Sam Tait is raring and ready to go ahead of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, his second Games after appearing in Pyongchang in 2018.
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Tait competed in five events in South Korea four years ago, finishing 11th in the Men's Downhill Sitting and 17th in the Men's Giant Slalom Sitting.
He is currently preparing to fly out to Beijing where he will again suit up for Australia in the Alpine Skiing discipline.
We sat down with the Mittagong local to chat all things snow.
GP: How are you feeling, almost time to head over?
ST: I'm really excited. I mean, I guess the nerves will still be there but I'm less scared and more confident in my skiing.
It's been a pretty tough season for me, I had an injury for January, which wasn't the best, but it's okay. I'm back now and just keen to get there. The hill looks really good. So I'm just excited to get there.
GP: What's a pass mark for you in Beijing?
ST: I definitely want a medal, that's all that's in my head but it's gonna be tough. My category is pretty competitive. There are 25 of us in the men's sitting category and everyone is within like five seconds of each other pretty much.
It's probably one of the toughest categories there is. Again, that makes it so much more special. I want a medal but I think I'll be happy with top five or top six.
GP: Casting your mind back to your motorbike accident. How long did it take for you to realise you wanted to pursue snowsports?
ST: So I had my accident in 2013. It was probably a month after that, where I saw wheelchair skiing and thought wow that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. From there, I was like, yeah, I'm going to do that and I'm going to go to the Paralympics.
I had two ways to go. One was stay positive, or the other way was just sit and ask questions like, why me but that's not me.
This is a pretty bad situation but I kind of made the most out of it. I'm obviously on this path for this reason and it's taking me to incredible places around the whole world. I get to overseas every season or every northern hemisphere.
My life is so good. I would never have imagined this nine years ago.
GP: COVID-19 is obviously still all around. Are you nervous at all about catching it before your events?
ST: We had a meeting on Wednesday with Paralympics Australia, just to give us more information about getting to China. They were saying that when we fly into the airport, the airport is only open to Paralympic athletes and staff members. So there will be no tourists around, which will be good.
Everyone will be asked to get negative COVID tests. So for us, it feels like it will be pretty safe. But still, there's obviously a risk of getting COVID in transmission. So we're still gonna be pretty careful until we get into the village and and start racing. I don't want to get COVID in China and be stuck there for two weeks.
GP: Well you'll have an entire community crossing their fingers you don't! Good luck Sam.
ST: Thanks, I'm excited to get out there.
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